Last weekend, students from around the North West gathered in Lancaster for SCM’s ‘A Light for All’ gathering. Coordinated by Rach Collins, SCM's North West Regional Development Worker, alongside members of SCM Leeds, the day event looked at various aspects of the Bible and was also the first gathering of the SCM group in Lancaster.
We were excited to start the day with Revd Dr Anderson Jeremiah, our keynote speaker, who explored an immigrant’s perspective of the Bible with us. We followed this with a workshop from Christian Aid led by Ruth Platt, which explored why we care about injustice and what we can do about it, which was well received by the students.
After a delicious lunch provided by the chaplaincy, Revd Kevin Huggett, Anglican Chaplain at Lancaster, shared a quotation from Martin Luther - “The soul can do without everything except the word of God, without which none of its wants are provided for.” Kevin used this a starting point for his talk explaining the Bible came to be. Revd Kara Cooper, the Methodist Chaplain, also helped us to explore the more difficult parts of the Bible in a progressive, feminist, yet always Christocentric way, helping students who struggle with the Bible to have open discussions, reminding us that “It’s okay not to be okay with all of the Bible.”
To close the day we joined together in worship, which included prayers of commission for the new SCM Lancaster group led by members of SCM Leeds. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for SCM Lancaster!
Thank you to everyone that came along, the chaplaincy for hosting us, and also WSCF Europe for their financial support.
To find out about upcoming SCM events, visit our events page.